Layers and color families

How object assignment, layer colors, and shared cut settings work in Beam Bench.

Every object in Beam Bench belongs to an explicit layer. The layer has a color for visual identification and holds the settings shared by its objects, including mode, power, speed, passes, and interval.

The important distinction is:

Moving selected objects to a layer changes only those objects' assignment.
Editing a layer changes the shared settings used by every object on that layer.

Why layers have colors

Colors make cut intent visible on the canvas and map cleanly to SVG and CAD files that use color to distinguish operations. The color helps you identify a layer, but the layer itself owns the cut settings.

Imported artwork can create layers from the source colors it contains. You can then rename, reorder, recolor, merge, or separate those layers as needed.

Color families

A color family groups related shades. Beam Bench uses families when resolving imported vector and raster content so related operations can remain visually connected without forcing incompatible content into the same layer type.

Color families are an organizational hint, not a restriction. The actual object assignment is the layer ID.

Tool layers

Tool layers are non-output layers for guides, layout references, and background artwork that should not run on the machine. They show Tool as their mode, and their output settings are disabled.

By default, tool layers do not accept imports. The Settings, File & Import Allow importing to tool layers option changes that behavior.

Assign and reassign objects

To assign existing objects:

Select one or more objects.
Choose the destination from Layer in Properties.

You can also right-click the destination layer tab and choose Move Selection to This Layer. Only the selection moves. Objects that shared the source layer but were not selected stay there.

The active layer tab controls where the next compatible object you draw is created. Use the + tab to create another layer.

Layer order

The order of the tabs above the canvas is the processing order sent to the machine. Drag tabs to reorder them. A useful default is engrave first, score second, and cut through last so the material stays held in place until the final operation.

Material library and layers

You can save layer settings as a preset in the Material Library panel and apply the preset to another layer. This is the standard way to reuse known-good settings for a material and thickness.